About Tony Diamond

Barnados

Tony Diamond: Tony and thousands of other children were shipped to Australia and Canada until the 1960’s. Children as young as 24 months were effectively transported half way around the world, to be adopted, used as cheap labour and to populate emerging nations with ‘good white stock’. No one knows the exact figures of when it really began or how many children were involved, the Governments snubbed these children then and they bury the history now.

Tony Diamond’s mother happily signed the relevant release documents handing Tony over to Barnardo’s that subsequently saw him being migrated to Australia – others were not so lucky. Children were told their parents were dead, and vice versa for the parents, or that they were going away on holiday, others were told nothing. The children worst off were those who were sentenced to a childhood of abuse by those who wanted the children for nothing more. Others were sent to the notorious Bindoon in Perth, run by Catholic Christian Brothers, British children were forced to do hard labour and had unimaginable abuse inflicted upon them. Incredibly this only stopped in the late 60’s. Some children ended up dead, others in institutions. Not all children suffered but those who did have been left to pick up the pieces alone, save for a few charities. Unbelievably the British Government set a time limit on those children wishing to seek compensation, and today are still slashing funding to charities trying to help these now grown children recover.

By the time the 1960’s came around Barnardo’s was undergoing radical changes, as was society. Un-married mothers were becoming more accepted, the standard of living was rising and with the introduction of the pill, there were less un-wanted pregnancies.

By the 1970’s and 1980’s Barnardo’s was operating fostering and adoption services as well as services for more broader problems such as HIV/AIDS, drugs and alcohol dependencies and in 1989 they closed the doors on it’s last home.

The below listings are charities and organisations that can offer further help, advise and support.